Tuesday, 21 April 2015

An Armenian belly dancer, Safinar Gourian was sentenced to 6 months in jail by an Egyptian court for wearing a tight dress made out of the Egyptian flag.
Insulting the flag was made illegal by decree under Egyptian President Adly Mansour who ruled for a year after the army overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.

Her troubles started after she was reported by an individual. So far she has paid about $3500 in fines.

In her defence, Safinar said, she knew nothing about the law; being a foreigner.

Egypt's Flag

Forms of flag desecration include: burning it, shooting it with guns, making toilet paper, napkins, doormats, and other such items bearing the image of the flag, so that the flag's image will be destroyed or soiled in the course of everyday activities, stepping on it, hurling insults at it, defaecating or urinating on it.

The penalties for desecrating flags range from fines and imprisonment, for months to 10 years in countries like Algeria, China, Austria, Portugal amidst others. However, there is no law prohibiting flag desecration in the U.S.

I wonder if wearing the flag as a dress was counted as desecration or her dancing in it made it offensive?